(The following story by Scott Merzbach appeared on the Amherst Bulletin website on May 22, 2009.)
AMHERST, Mass. — With Amherst in jeopardy of being dropped from the Amtrak Vermonter rail line, town officials are creating a nine-member committee that will advocate for maintaining the stop and improving rail service for the town.
The Save Our Stop Task Force, unanimously endorsed by the Select Board Monday, will be appointed in the next few weeks and spend the next year studying passenger rail issues before making recommendations to the Select Board by May 30, 2010.
“I hope it will study the implications of keeping or losing that stop, and it will advocate for the importance of train service in Amherst,” said Select Board Chairwoman Stephanie O’Keeffe.
The town’s position, O’Keeffe said, is that the continued operation of the Amherst station is important to many people in the community, including college students and families.
Town Manager Larry Shaffer said he is concerned about the discontinuation of the so-called Palmer Detour, of which Amherst is a part, and he is interested in the role Amherst could play, long-term, in an east-west rail connection to Boston.
“I think it makes an awful lot of sense for the town to create a task force to study this Amtrak train service in Amherst and what it means to the community,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer said the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is the regional agency advocating for the enhanced rail service, which could connect area residents from New York City to St. Alban’s, Vt. But with this comes the possibility of losing the detour to Amherst when the rail line is repaired and new rail stops are built in Greenfield, Northampton and Holyoke, likely using federal stimulus money.
The Select Board approved the task force’s three-pronged charge. This charge includes studying how the availability of the train stop impacts Amherst and area residents, what the discontinuation would mean and to recommend to the Select Board actions to enhance passenger rail service in Amherst and protect against losing the stop.
The task force will be made up of six members appointed directly by the Select Board, one recommended by the Planning Board, one supported by the Public Transportation Committee and one suggested by the Town Commercial Relations Committee.
The SOS Task Force will work with and solicit input from representatives with the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College and Hampshire College.
Rob Kusner, who had suggested the idea of establishing a task force at a recent Select Board meeting, said he might want to serve on the committee. Improving railroad service, Kusner said, will require cooperation between area cities and towns, including Amherst and Northampton, and the business, education, transportation and environmental communities.
In a letter to the Bulletin, Kusner writes, “To realize the greater opportunity, we need to be more future-thinking: rather than fearing the loss of north-south rail service through Amherst, let us instead work to improve the web of rail transportation in the region, particularly east-west passenger service between Springfield, Palmer, Worcester and Boston.”
Meanwhile, Shaffer said he and his staff are conducting surveys at the station to get the age, hometown and destination of the people now using the station. “We’re going to try to be prepared to speak to that issue, even if the survey isn’t completely certifiable,” Shaffer said,
Shaffer and other Amherst representatives were expected to be at the Clarion Hotel in Northampton Wednesday for the first public sharing of the results of this survey with the PVPC.